These 8 common food additives in our cupboards increase the risk of hypertension by 29%.
You read labels, you pay attention to salt, and yet some additives in your everyday foods could be silently affecting your blood pressure. A recent French study, published in theEuropean Heart Journal, points to common preservatives as risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Preservatives everywhere in our food
Ultra-processed foods are often criticized for their composition. Among their ingredients, preservatives play a precise role: preventing food from deteriorating. However, some of them have been linked to negative effects on cardiovascular health.
There are two main families of preservatives. On the one hand, there are preservatives naturally present in foods, such as ascorbic acid(vitamin C) or alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), which are thought to have a positive effect on the heart. On the other, non-antioxidant preservatives, whose effects seem to be quite different.
So it’s not all additives that cause problems. The nature of the preservative, and above all the quantity consumed, seems to play a key role in the results observed.
A study of over 112,000 people
To reach these conclusions, the researchers analyzed data from 112,395 individuals. Two-thirds were women, with an average age of 42.8.
Over an eight-year observation period, they identified 58 different preservatives consumed by the participants. Of these, 17 were swallowed by at least 10% of the group. The researchers also took into account variables such as age, gender, BMI and physical activity.
What’s more, their analysis incorporated the participants’ overall dietary habits, in order to best isolate the specific effect of preservatives on heart health.
The 8 preservatives associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure
The results are clear on one point: higher intakes of non-antioxidant preservatives are associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and hypertension. Participants who consumed the most had a 29% higher risk of hypertension than those who consumed the least.
Their risk of cardiovascular disease was 16% higher. These figures relate to preservatives frequently found on processed food labels.
“This study provides new perspectives for re-examining the safety assessment of these food additives, which should take into account the benefit/risk ratio between preserving food with these additives and their potential impact on cardiovascular health.”
Eight preservatives were identified in this study. Their names are sometimes familiar, sometimes technical, but they are all present on our shelves.
- Potassium sorbate – popular preservative in dairy products and beverages
- Citric acid – used as an acidifier in many drinks and prepared dishes
- Potassium metabisulfite – present in wines and certain dried fruits.
- Sodium nitrite – used for preserving cold meats
- Sodium erythorbate, sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid – synthetic forms of vitamin C used as industrial antioxidants.
- Rosemary extract – natural preservative, but also concerned with results
An observational study with limitations
This research does not prove that these preservatives directly cause hypertension or heart disease. It is purely observational and does not establish a causal link. Other factors could explain some of the results.
On the other hand, the scientific community considers this study to be useful. It opens up new avenues for assessing the safety of these additives, taking into account not only their role as preservatives, but also their potential impact on health.
What these results mean for us
Reading labels is therefore becoming an increasingly valuable reflex. These preservatives are legal and present in products approved by health authorities. However, their regular consumption in large quantities could have an adverse effect on blood pressure over time.
The issue is also a collective one. The authors of the study call for the evaluation of food additives to be reviewed in terms of their potential cardiovascular impact, and not just their effectiveness as preservatives.
Many everyday foods – ready-made meals, cold meats, industrial drinks, flavored dairy products – contain several of these compounds at once. So, the issue is not so much a single product, but the progressive accumulation in an ultra-processed diet.
On the other hand, preservatives naturally present in food, such as vitamin C or vitamin E in their natural form, seem to have a different, even favourable, effect on cardiovascular health.
